A Magical Night with a Bit of Fright

4th of July was awesome! I actually didn't write for the entire day and spent it with family. In the early morning Hubby and I gathered up the boys since we were all going to be in a parade. My oldest son, Christian is a Boy Scout and theme for this year was Scouts & Family and the Scouts were celebrating 100 years.

Chris in his Scout Uniform

So we had to dress in patriotic colors and we carried little flags while pulling our youngest boys (ages 5 and 2) in a wagon. It was a lot of fun, even though it felt like 1,000 degrees outside. We walked for 1.7 miles, with the Fire Truck leading the way, who then got a call and sped away.

Yes, my 12yo is almost as tall as me. And yes, I do wear a type of flower in my hair on a daily basis just like one of my characters in GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLS ROOM!

My little Sammy, 2yo.

My 5yo Alexander, either squinting against the sun or blinking. Either way, he has amazing blue eyes :)

Also in the parade were the old vintage cars--So cool! Dance groups, Karate groups, and so many cute dogs! They were encouraging people to adopt a pet and they dressed them up.

Hard to see, but there's a dog in the passenger seat. Better than the drivers seat, right?

Yes, he is a convict.

After that, being the old person I am (I won't say my age but i'm over 31 and under 33) I had to take a nap. Seriously, I don't have energy like I used to. Later we had a BBQ with fam and friends, then we went to see a fireworks show, which was so great! The only downside was this:

We laid the blanket out on the grass. The sun just went down. The darkness covered us like a blanket. A certain chill of excitment ran through us as we looked up, waiting for sparks and glitter to magically light up the nighttime sky. My 2yr old sitting in my lap, grasping tightly onto my hands saying "now mama, now mama.” It warms my heart as it takes me back to the days when I was kid, that now I get to share the same traditions with my kids. I couldn’t smile any bigger or be any happier, until…

WHACK!!!!

Something smacked me in the head. Hard. I scream, as usual. Not good to do this around kids though. So I try to play it off like I was laughing, which worked unitl I look up and see these…these…bugs? There’s not much light but I definitely see wings and I see these things zooming at my head, diving bombing me. Yes, my biggest fear ever is moths, but it has progressed to anything ANYTHING with wings. When people say “when pigs fly,” I shiver at the very thought. So I’m dodging these hard hitting bugs with my eyes closed (is this possible?) and one of my friends say “eww, they’re in my hair.” What kind of bugs are these? They say they’re June Bugs. WTH is a June Bug?? My mom screams “They’re nighttime bees!” Yes, her major fear since she was a child is…you guessed it, bees. So she’s freaking out. Has anyone ever heard of nighttime bee?!

So we endured this frightening end of the night until the firework show started, and that seemed to scare off the bugs. Well, most of them. I did hear my mom say “OW!” during the show and when I asked what happened she said “one of those bugs hit me in the eye. It felt like a rock.” So I scooted away from her, just a little and looked in the opposite direction to watch the magical show with my boys.

Intermission Post: Embarrassment

Okay, while I'm digging up pictures for my next post, this will be a brief intermission post. And what kind of thing could I briefly pull out of my hat and share? Yes, another embarrassing moment. I think i'm a sucker for punishment. Or maybe sympathy? Or maybe I just have so many of these moments that it's like a form of therapy.


Let me set the scene for you.

It's 11:30pm. I'm in a parking lot. It's dark outside. (aren't you glad I don't write books the way I blog?)

Hubby and I just left Safeway and we're heading back to the car. We're talking about something and just as we get to our car, another car pulls up next to us us and parks.

Me, I'm just blabbing away about nothing, not even paying attention to the fact that a car parked beside us. Or the fact that the car is the exactly the same as ours- a black Prius. The other car turns off the engine. The driver opens the door, gets out, and says to us....

"Hey, we have the same...."

She never completes her sentence, but I think she was going to mention that we were cool for having the same car.

The reason she never completed her sentence is because the moment she opened her mouth to talk, I freaked out, spun on my heels, looked directly at this young blonde girl, open my mouth, and screamed at the top. of. my. lungs.

I will never forget the look on that poor girls face. Her eyes were so wide from fright, her mouth made the "O" shape and she took off so fast, running towards the store, her one hope for safety, away from the crazy screaming girl with the matching Prius.

My husband laughed so hard. All the way home. I kept asking him, did I really scream that loud (my ears were ringing still). He told me my scream echoed through the entire parking lot and half way across town. He said if I ever tried out for a the part of a screaming girl in a horror movie, that I would get booked without a doubt.

Moral of this story: be careful who you approach at night in dark parking lots. Even if they do have the same car as you. And look sweet and innocent. And have fabulous hair. And terrific fashion sense. Because they might be a screamer.

How do you say GOSSIP in Spanish?

Okay, so this news is a bit old and dates waaaay back to June 23rd, 2010. But the point to having a blog, besides meeting and sharing wonderful things with all you wonderful people, is to keep track of dates and all the cool things that happen. Um, and the lame and embarrassing things i'd rather forget but whatever.

So seven days ago this deal was announced in PM (Publishers Marketplace for non-writers out there):

Children's: Middle grade
Spanish rights to Rose Cooper's GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLS' ROOM, to Santillana, by Franca Bernatavicius at Intercontinental Literary Agency, on behalf of Rosemary Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio.

*Happy Dance* So April 2011, which is only three months after my book is released here, it will be translated to spanish and published in Spain. So exciting! Since I'm still going through all the steps of publication for the first time, i'm learning a lot along the way. And what I learned here is that your book doesn't have to be published first to get foreign rights. Which is something I had always thought. And as always, I love my agent. She continues to surprise me and keep me on my toes.

So, it's no longer a secreto (well, as of seven days ago). Isn't that fab? Si, Si!

Voodoo Dolls and Pimped out Carts

So remember I mentioned in my Freak Out! post that I went to East Bay Open Studios as one of the 12 artists to participate in the FABULOUS weekend event at the beginning of June? Since today is the last day of June, I thought it only appropriate to show some pics so you could get an idea of the experience. Remember how I also mentioned in my Freak Out! post that some other things went wrong? Well, I think its only appropriate that I save the more embarrassing moments for July. Yep, That could mean tomorrow!!


So, without furthur ado, dun dun dun...
My tour guide, Sunny, will now take you on this lovely experience.

Now Sunny, this is still MY blog. So be nice.

iPhones are so not dumb. Just sayin.

Remember I made you and I can just as easily unmake you, delete you, whatever, if you don't quit complaining! Besides, I made you BEFORE i started working with characters on paper.

These are too adorable! And the artist herself is terrific. I traded with her and in exchange received two of these lovely Monsters with Heart. Each come with their very own story, no two alike. In fact, the one in the top left corner (the bride named Diamond) I was lucky enough to snag! Yay me!

Um, you don't have TWO rights. So to correct Sunny, the Monster BBQ is on HER left YOUR right, which I'm sure you can already tell. but anway. All I can say is amazing! Photos don't do these justice! And they were just among some of the many, many on display. I'm so jealous. These guys have so much talent. I'm just in awe in their very presence.

It's true. Homeless Don made $150 that weekend. Then three days later he was back on Non-Homeless Don's house trying to squeeze $5 out of him.

Scaredy Cat!!!! Whatever. I'll takeover the tour on this one then. Two blocks down there was another art event going on (although were more awesome) and as I was walking back, this car in the above picture just parked in front of someone's house. If you can see clear enough, there are like Voodoo dolls and heads fixed to the sides and top of the car. SO CRAZY! People driving by were stopping in the middle of the road and getting out to take pictures. Those walking past would stop in their tracks to stare and gawk. The lady who lived in the house that the car parked in front of came out and I talked with her. She said she's never seen the car before. I told her it sure is getting a lot of attention and if I were her, today would be the day to have a garage sale.

Well, maybe next time we'll have to work on having a tour guide who's not so scared of every little thing, eh?

Or has such anger issues.

Freak Out!!

Do you ever find yourself in a freak out moment? Like something that is normally a simple, common sense situation but it catches you off guard and for that moment you turn into a babbling idiot or an instant airhead who couldn't find their way out of a paperbag? And worse, you have a witness? And even worse, you drink too much coffee and decide to BLOG ABOUT IT? sigh. You just guessed that's me, huh? Before I lose the nerve and delete this, I will quickly tell you my freak out moment that happened at on June 5th at precisely 10:32am. And no, I don't remember this date because I have a good memory. Read on.

I was driving to East Bay Open Studios as one of the artists in the event that weekend and my brother was going with me that day. The drive takes about an hour and a half. So, I’m driving. And...i'm still driving, and singing to the radio, la la la (brother covers ears), whatever. La la la LA LA LA!

Me: WHAT IS THAT BEHIND ME???

Brother: That's a cop, Rose.

Me: Omg, omg, what do I do?

Brother: (yawn) Pull over, Rose.

Me: (puts blinker on) Oh look! He's moving to the other lane! He was probably just trying to go around me! (turns blinker off)

Brother: Rose, you're in the far left lane. He was parked on the side of the freeway.

Me: Oh no! He's behind me again! (turns blinker back on)

Brother: Start getting over, Rose.

Me: But I haven’t had a ticket in like, 9 years!!

Brother: Rose, you still have to pull over.

(Notice the overusage of my name here? What IS the point of that?)

Me: Do you think I can outrun him?

Brother: Um…you’re driving a Prius.

Me: I was kidding!

Brother: How can you even speed in this thing?

Me: You know, there’s a recall on the gas pedal. It’s supposed to stick.

I pull over to the shoulder and the officer comes around the passenger side. He looks like the Doogie Howser of all cops. My nerves have gotten the best of me and I’m all shaky and twitchy and nervous. Great, he’s probably going to search my car for illegal substances.

He asks me “Do you know how fast you were going?” I have to stop and think for a moment. I know I was going with the flow of traffic. But I was obviously going over the speed limit or else he wouldn’t have pulled me over. And honestly, I wasn’t paying attention (totally my fault, I know!) So I think, okay..speed limit is 65 so I make a guess and say, “66?” But when I say it, it comes out all stutter-like so it actually sounds like "sssssiiixxxxxttttttyyysixxx?" and yes I don't just say it but I ask it in the form of a question which really shows I have no idea and i'm making an obvious guess.

The officer snort-laughs and pulls out his radar gun thingy and shows me the speed I was going. Seriously, they can do that? I told you it’s been a long time since I’ve had a ticket for anything because back then—they didn’t show you! He showed me my speed and I almost laughed. I didn’t know my little gas saving Prius COULD go that fast. My response was “Wow.”

Office Doogie turned out to be not so bad. He lowered my speed on the ticket so I could get the minimum fine and do online traffic school. Really, online? That’s way cool. I think he realized I wasn't on drugs but I was a bit mentally unstable. In the end, lets just say I sold enough art that weekend to pay for my ticket and traffic school, and then some. (we won’t count how many times I got lost and unnecesarrily had to pay toll. That’s another post!)